Adventures Form Identity

  Wednesday 12th May, 2021
  Categories: Connect Stories, May 2021

Adventures Form Identity

The Castlemaine SOAR Adventures participants

SOAR Adventures is an adventure-based experiential learning program that fosters a sense of identity for students during Year Eight and Nine. Many young people live in an internal mental culture where they think they're dumb, they're not the right shape, or not pretty enough. Through SOAR Adventures, we aim to build within them new ways of thinking about themselves.

Before our recent SOAR Adventures trip, the school principal called me with concerns about two of our participants. One has been really struggling at school, and even slept rough on the school property one night. The other has been dealing with mental health concerns, and had been self-harming. We talked to their parents, and to the principal, and they came on the trip. And both thrived!

SOAR Adventures is a redemptive community for young people as our leaders immersed themselves in these young people’s lives and invited the young people to immerse themselves in our lives, and in the lives of each other. This models for them a kind of family, a safe space to participate, to relax a bit and just enjoy being a kid. It enables us to build connections with young people and families, with the school, and with churches that will continue throughout the year.

SOAR Adventures helps young people discover they are beautifully made, and they matter. Ultimately our prayer is that they will discover what Jesus sees in them and respond through the experience.

Dave, Castlemaine SOAR Director

This story is part of the May 2021 issue of CONNECT.